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February 4, 2013

Brown Bag Microwave Popcorn

We love popcorn. I could eat it for dinner nearly every night. And if you don’t completely drown it in butter, it can be very good for you. Popcorn is a whole grain, just like wheat. It is full of good fiber. Who knew fiber could be so delicious?

I used to buy microwave popcorn all the time. A family movie night just isn’t complete without popcorn, so I would get some at the store almost every time I shopped. Then one day, I decided to read the label on our favorite popcorn brand.

Yikes.

It was full of stuff that did not sound very appetizing. I don’t even know what half of that stuff is. There is no way to know what that stuff is doing to our bodies. Even though I often bought the “light” brand, it still didn’t make any sense to me to keep using microwave popcorn when I could pop it myself. Not to mention popping my own popcorn was much better for my grocery budget.

Once I made the decision to stop buying microwave popcorn, I prepared myself for the mess of popping popcorn on the stove the old-fashioned way. For a long time, I pulled out my big cast iron pot, heated some canola oil, and made our popcorn. While it is delicious made that way, it took a lot of time and effort. Of course, my family’s health is worth all the trouble of making popcorn myself.

Then one morning, I was watching the Today Show. They did a segment with Ellie Krieger,a dietician who had a show on Food Network for a while. I always liked her recipes, and I loved that she broke down the calories, cholesterol, and fat grams saved when cooking her way. That day, she was working on healthy snacks. Popcorn was one of them. That’s when she shared a method of popping popcorn that changed my life forever.

She popped regular popcorn in a regular paper lunch bag.

Why didn’t I think of that???

From that moment on, whenever we had a popcorn craving, I just whipped up a couple bags of brown bag popcorn and we were good to go.

For Brown Bag Popcorn, all you need is:
1 paper lunch bag, available at any discount store.
1/4 cup of un-popped popcorn.
All you do is put the popcorn in the bag, pop it for about a minute, or until the popping slows down. Take it out, dump it in a bowl, and flavor it however you want.
Yes, it is that simple.
I like to top it all different ways. Some days I like a bit of melted butter and salt. Other times, I like to put some parmesan cheese. I’ve even put Tabasco on mine for a bit of heat.
So next time you are in the mood for popcorn, be sure to use this simple method. I will change your life just like it changed mine.